Squirrel

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

I am not an astronomer. I watched the last of the moon's cycles and Venus was right there with it. Then when the moon disappeared Venus was still up there shinning brightly. You can barely see it in the lower part of the photo. When the moon reappeared, it now is completely in a different part of the sky. I am assuming that as the moon becomes more full that the moon will be closer to Venus again. My mind really can't wrap itself around all of those changing cycles. I guess I will have to be happy that I can look up and identify the moon no matter where it is.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Sunday, May 28, 2017

The photo of yesterday was one of the hazy early morning sky. The morning developed into a lot of down pouring rain. Last evening then, we had the clearing sky. Looking up the street, east, the sun has set. A had a suburban sunset with the highlighting of the sliver of the moon, all seen from my front door steps.

Friday, May 26, 2017

My flag iris at the old place are blooming right now. I am more determined than ever to move some to the two different colors of flag iris to our newer home. I remembered this from last year that it is hard to photograph a flower that is divided by threes. Parts of it are in shadow and it makes the flower look asymenntircal. I really like this color but when I see the deep blue one it is also my favorite color.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Two lanterns moved and hung in the garage temporarily, next to a rug. The visual helps compare the different kinds used in different ways in time. I remember seeing the older lamp in the back was used as a prop in WW 2 movies. That lamp would be sturdy compared to the lighter metal one shown in the foreground. Lanterns like the spray painted one were commonly used in barns in the country before there was electricity. Once electricity was installed in the farm homes and barns, the lanterns were left hanging on nails in the barns most of the rusted out with little paint left on them.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

It seems fitting that the fan-shaped trellis has fan-shaped clusters of blooms on its vine. The vining honeysuckle is not quite in full bloom yet. Each of those trumpets need to open up into a bloom on the end of the tube. The leaf shapes are so unique to see. I own this now but I have never heard of this kind of plant before. My honeysuckle on the bushel are red and look so much differently than these.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

This older fashioned peony is always the first to bloom. The other colors well bloom in another week or so. I have lots of them at the old place and our new place has six or seven of them in a row getting ready to bloom. As a photo, this one is an indoor shot. The artificial light does affect the color making it more yellow than the well lighted outdoor shot.

I do like the above shot though because of it capturing the essence of all of the parts of the bloom. You can see by this shot on the side that the true colors really don't have any orange in it.

Friday, May 19, 2017

I brought a new cutting of iris from the old place yesterday. They were placed in an old jar and transferred into the canning jar. We have a grey day because of the rain so I placed the flowers in front of the sliding glass door to get good lighting for the shot. The old canning jar was called a torpedo jar because of its shape. It is an old jar from a house that was later torn down after I had collected it. .

Thursday, May 18, 2017

This is the set up in the early morning sunrise, Wednesday morning. Little did we know that it was a sign of tornado warnings in our area for most of the day. Being outside with the dog yesterday afternoon Barney and I experienced the blunt of the storm I had just taken him outside in the afternoon and Barney was attached by his leash cord. All of sudden a monsoon rain fell instantly with no warning and the wind was at 70 miles an hour. I drug the dog back to the door and because of the wind direction we continued to be pelted with a deluge of water even under the porch. Right after I got Barney back into the house, it started to hail. The only damage was the leaves strewn from off the trees. I changed clothes and Barney remained wet for a few hours.

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

I checked in at the old house yesterday and collected some iris blooms from the garden. The vases were all at the new place so I found a bucket from the basement and put water in it. The wind causes the iris to lean and lay on the ground so I just clipped a lot of them. Storms in that area last night probably put most of them now on the ground. The iris are looking in pretty good shape though and I will keep picking them as they bloom.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Sunday, May 14, 2017

The sun shines brightly today highlighting the deck outside. The lanterns were bought years ago for the old patio and they have made the move. It will be neat to light votive candles in them in the evening. The pile of spilled black seed on the table is leftover from filling the sock feeder. I am expecting that during the day that the goldfinch will pick those up from the table.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Workmen were at the house and I had to find something to do while they were there. Cleaning up the old spice chest seemed to work, to pass my time. Barney liked the workmen but he chose to hover over by the chair next to me. They were making noises he wasn't sure that he liked. I snapped the photo to show the process of dusting and cleaning and Barney was in the background. It was an unplanned shot and some of you are probably agreeing. Barney had a loose cloth leash on him. He wasn't being held there but the end of it was laying over the back of the chair. He could have stood up and taken off to visit the guys working without any restriction.

Friday, May 12, 2017

I have collected so many old things that are from past times that I don't remember where the items originated. The shiny glazed stoneware container probably had a wooded lid that covered a preserved food. The shape is the only one that I have in my years of clinging to stoneware. I keep finding more pieces as I empty out my basement. I do remember one piece that I received from my "John and Iva" connection. It was used to hold tar or some other very sticky shellac. I remember it had a rag and corncob as its stopper. I did get it all out of that container but I have never put food in any of them. This one will end up with my display that is developing above the kitchen cupboards.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Dusk is upon us Wednesday evening as the remaining rain clouds diminish into fluffs. The lone tree is so nice to have in the neighborhood. When the housing development was created 15 years ago the company left some of the original trees. The swath up the hill is the backyard land of all of the houses.The tree was growing there. I don't know who was the lucky ones that got the tree but they also get to rake the leaves in the fall. I bet the neighbors of the tree do some raking too. I like being able to look west and seeing that tree standing tall and strong. I know that there are a few others looking east also.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

My first bloom from the iris broke off of the stem as I transported to the new home. This is one of the smaller old fashion iris that I have. I would call it a cemetery iris but that seems to confuse people. It is one of the original kinds of iris that they used to created the large hybrid ones that they sell today.

A bonus photo today of the globe allium that are blooming right now. I did cut some to put into a vase and they are working as a cut flower.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

As the plants of the previous owner keep popping up out of the ground I found a new surprise growing under my deck steps. As a kid on the farm I would see these growing wild in our timber. They were not the same kind of plant as this one is but they are a fascination to see no matter what colors that they are. I have seen these commercially sold in catalogues but I was not expecting to see this.

From a distance the leaves all tend to blend together. I originally thought it was a hosta poking through the ground.

I would have never imagined that I would own such a plant but it is fun to have it in my patio garden. I am awaiting to see if the foliage plant behind this will have a bloom on it.

Monday, May 8, 2017

The on going movement of rain clouds coming into the area caused great sky patterns. Our panoramic sky gives me a far bigger view than the camera can capture. Our new place gives us a large span of the sky from the far west to the far south east. The deck on the hill has proved to be a great place for us to view the world. It reminds me of the sky view at our bookstore that sits on a hill. The sky views there are always grand with clouds or no clouds. There were earlier pinks in the among the clouds but I didn't get out on the deck soon enough.

Sunday, May 7, 2017

We have a continue show of goldfinch and house finch birds most all of the daylight hours. The house finch is a little larger but their behaviors seem similar. I don't know if the neighbors enjoy seeing them birds darting in and out all day but they are doing just that. The red twig dogwood shrubs have something that the birds like to eat on them also as they are covered with birds all day.

Saturday, May 6, 2017

I dug this plant up and placed it in a galvanized bucket. I have brought it to the new garden but decided to wait to replant it after it blooms. The stories are told that the plant was transferred across the states by wagon train in the early part of our history. The roots were wrapped in cloth and planted when the settlers reached their destination.

I moved my pot of chive also to the new garden. I let it winter over in the pot and it survives over the winter.

Friday, May 5, 2017

As the earth keeps tilting, we have more sun shining into the living room. The new house sits pretty much off the grid in considering north and south directions. The back of the house sits facing northeast. So, if I have to describe the neighbors location, they sit southeast and northwest. The front of the house sits on the curve facing southwest. In most instances it seems to be a better at the angle for seeing the sky but being able to just call a direction, I won't be able to do that. My brain is too old to be able to spontaneously figure it out. I did discover that the street that I was thinking was a short cut to go to the main road actually is the longer way to the main street. I am driving in a westerly direction to go to an easterly destination. As Barney reflects, I am betting that he has better things to worry about than the earth's directions.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

The house finch is a gift from England. It apparently wanted to find new lands to expand its kind. They are a great addition to our bird world. They do battle with the goldfinches to get to the seed sock. It is not unusual to see both goldfinch and house finches hanging from the feeder at the same time.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

As I returned from our older home I brought some blossoms from a different apple tree. I didn't know that the apple trees have different colors of blooms but this one variety has some pink color in it. The one cutting from last week had apple blossoms that were all white.

Monday, May 1, 2017

I still have my rock on the deck ledge that shows what the weather is doing. A wet rock does indicate the rain is coming down or it has stopped. I would really like to see a dry rock soon. My new weather indicator is this deck. I did see the deck dry for a couple of hours yesterday but it is back to being shiny and wet this morning. The plants in the corner look a little weak but they have not had much warm weather to bring them up to good growth conditions.